Nature Genetics
Nature Genetics
2 years ago

Bipotent transitional liver progenitor cells contribute to liver regeneration

Bipotent transitional liver progenitor cells contribute to liver regeneration
Wenjuan Pu, Huan Zhu, Mingjun Zhang, Monika Pikiolek, Caner Ercan, Jie Li, Xiuzhen Huang, Ximeng Han, Zhenqian Zhang, Zan Lv, Yan Li, Kuo Liu, Lingjuan He, Xiuxiu Liu, Markus H. Heim, Luigi M. Terracciano, Jan S. Tchorz, Bin Zhou
Following severe liver injury, when hepatocyte-mediated regeneration is impaired, biliary epithelial cells (BECs) can transdifferentiate into functional hepatocytes. However, the subset of BECs with such facultative tissue stem cell potential, as well as the mechanisms enabling transdifferentiation, remains elusive. Here we identify a transitional liver progenitor cell (TLPC), which originates from BECs and differentiates into hepatocytes during regeneration from severe liver injury. By applying a dual genetic lineage tracing approach, we specifically labeled TLPCs and found that they are bipotent, as they either differentiate into hepatocytes or re-adopt BEC fate. Mechanistically, Notch and Wnt/β-catenin signaling orchestrate BEC-to-TLPC and TLPC-to-hepatocyte conversions, respectively. Together, our study provides functional and mechanistic insights into transdifferentiation-assisted liver regeneration.

Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-023-01335-9

DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01335-9

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.